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As of mid-afternoon Dec. 18, congressional leaders had not yet reached a government funding agreement. Unless a deal is made by midnight on Friday, Dec. 21, the federal government will go into a partial shutdown for agencies without full-year appropriations. Please refer back to this page Read More...

The Duke Law School’s Veterans Assistance Project (VAP) helps veterans access earned benefits. The students in the program aid veterans with diverse backgrounds and subsequently diverse needs. Some veterans live without consistent homes, some live far from Veterans’ Affairs hospitals, Read More...

Now in their positions for several months, Deans Judith Kelley of the Sanford School of Public Policy and Toddi Steelman of the Nicholas School of the Environment visited Washington, D.C., Nov. 27 and 29 to share their visions for the future of environmental science Read More...

by Amy Kramer, T’18 There’s something special about the bond you forge with your peers while doing pushups in the rain at 5:50 a.m. It’s akin to walking through the Pentagon and being stopped by every Duke alum wanting to Read More...

Duke University’s growing connection with the military comes through its student body, faculty and staff and can be found in the classroom and in research. With the establishment of a regional office for MD5, the Pentagon’s national security technology accelerator, Read More...

Duke’s ‘Defensive’ Line Duke’s relationship with the military is broad and committed. From programs specifically for veterans and military-affiliated personnel to studies of the aerodynamic properties of meta-materials in vehicle antenna, Duke understands that real relationships with the Read More...

The future of international trade rests on the future of trade dispute resolution, argued the Jeffrey and Bettysue Hughes Professor of Law Rachel Brewster, Ph.D. yesterday, Oct. 18 at a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill. In detailing the World Trade Read More...

Current debates around artificial intelligence promise much but define little. This past Wednesday, Oct. 10, the Defense Innovation Board held an open hearing on the best, most ethical way to incorporate AI into the battle space and into Department of Read More...

September 6, 2018 Although on campus September begins the new year, it is the last month for Congress to accomplish anything before midterm elections. This past year saw a massive topline budget deal struck between the two parties, short-term government Read More...

Summer is intern season in Washington, D.C. Young people from across the country journey to the capital to work, network and expand their professional acumen. For the DukeEngage Science & Society program, summer is also a time to explore the Read More...

When compared to older generations, young people don’t vote in quantities representative of their population. Despite being roughly equivalent percentages of the voting-age public, 18-29 year-olds vote at half the rate of those 60 years plus. Conventional wisdom argues young Read More...

In an effort to build long-term relationships and reiterate the university’s commitment to openness, access and intellectual rigor, President Vincent E. Price spent July 10 and 11 in Washington, D.C., to meet with students, alumni, journalists and members of Congress Read More...

As a leader in higher education, some of North Carolina’s most valuable resources are its college students. Five years ago, Duke University started a chapter of the College Advising Corps, which offers an opportunity for young graduates to give back Read More...

Generals may fight the last war, but researchers fight the next. In 2017, Duke performed close to $60 million dollars in research sponsored by the Department of Defense and Defense-related agencies to investigate the future of conflict and the avenues Read More...

American prosperity deserves the brightest individuals supported by a fair visa system that encourages them to contribute to the country. We want the best minds working on such grand challenges as cures for cancer and developing quantum computers. Having the world’s Read More...

Duke is deeply vested in the outcome of the immigration debate beginning this week in Congress. Not limited to our support for a positive outcome for DACA recipients, Duke is a global university committed to bringing outstanding students, researchers and Read More...

Although the DACA program is planned to expire March 5, each continuing resolution and round of immigration negotiations adds to the climate of uncertainty. Duke University continues to stand for a permanent solution that provides DACA recipients a clear path Read More...

Governments are strong, but the consumer is almighty. Scarcely is that better understood than in Duke’s Superfund Research Center (SRC). In addition to advocating for the implementation of safer government policies surrounding toxic chemicals, they Read More...

Updated: 1/22/18 GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENDS Congress voted today, Jan. 22, to fund the government through Feb. 8 with a promise from Senate Republicans to debate and vote on an immigration bill before then. It would also delay Obamacare’s medical device Read More...

The best laid schemes of mice and men never met the wrath of the U.S. Congress. With 2018 in full legislative swing, this year promises tight deadlines, fiscal cliffs and legislative brinksmanship. In election years, lawmakers typically avoid writing major Read More...

In an attempt to press the timeliness of DACA and immigration reform, Duke DACA recipients and allies challenged key congressmen on Capitol Hill, Nov. 30 and Dec.1. Roughly a dozen students travelled up to D.C. right before finals for two Read More...

Show is always better than tell. Rarely is that adage truer than when advocating on the university’s behalf. The Duke Office of Government Relations spends much of its time engaging policymakers in Washington, D.C. However, the greatest impact the university Read More...

In two days of meetings this week in Washington, D.C., Dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences Valerie Ashby advocated for the university’s federal priorities, including student aid, research funding and immigration, with alumni, journalists, Members of Congress and Read More...

When it comes to legislative action, there is no time like the deadline. As Congress returns this week, they face a series of decisions that shape the rest of the fiscal and legislative year. Congress has fewer than three weeks Read More...

Duke’s Science&Society program tries to pluralize the world of science. In order to magnify the social benefit of scientific progress, Science&Society endeavors to make it more accessible, just, and integrated into society. But uses of the word ‘science’ are vast, Read More...

Politics is the allocation of resources by other means. And scarcely is that more true than in the writing of a federal budget. As President Trump unveiled his own proposal for FY18, every other interested party will begin to do Read More...

Plum Books and Outlooks: Finding Your Feet in a New Government President Trump recently passed his 50th day in office. Though legally of no consequence, the first three months of a President’s tenure is often the only chance he has Read More...

When it comes to advocacy days in the Capitol, the first line is the bottom line. Members of Congress and their staff like facts, they like research, and they love it when smart, even-handed academics convey the benefits of their Read More...

Editor’s note: The following letter was sent Thursday February 2 to President Trump by 48 U.S. university leaders. Dear President Trump: We write as presidents of leading American colleges and universities to urge you to rectify or rescind the recent Read More...

As a new Congress hits the ground running, we are keeping track of activity that will impact the Duke community. Cordialities did not last long after the 115th Congress was sworn in on January 3rd. Between debates over the future of Read More...

Last month, Jim Luther, Associate Vice President of finance at Duke University, appeared before a US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee to reaffirm the research university communities’ commitment to working with federal partners to effectively regulate federal research. His Read More...

As classes resume on campus, the election looms, and the federal government funding remains uncertain, questions inevitably arise regarding the state of politics and its impact on the Duke community. Congress, when it returns to Washington, D.C. on September 6, Read More...

As the Republicans head to Cleveland and the Democrats to Philadelphia for their party conventions, many could be forgiven for assuming the general election has already begun. After all, the parties have had their presumptive nominees for months and the Read More...

Each summer, dozens of Duke undergraduate and graduate students head to Washington, D.C. for a chance to complement their academic classes with real-world experience through internships with government agencies, non-profits or D.C. firms. The students also have the opportunity to experience Read More...

In a previous post, we broke down the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) budget request. This, the second in a series discussing how the federal government funding process works in theory and practice, and why it matters to Duke, Read More...

The Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy was established in October 2015 with a $16.5 million gift from Duke medical school alumnus Robert J. Margolis and his wife Lisa, through the Robert and Lisa Margolis Family Foundation. We sat down Read More...

While the Washington, D.C., science community was focused Wednesday on the White House Science Fair, another scene was playing out down the road on Capitol Hill. The event was lower-profile than at the White House, but arguably more significant. Read More...

A Look at the Past, Present, and Future of Women’s Political Movements and Groups Gun control, philanthropy, and women’s political movements may seem unrelated. However, for Kristin Goss, associate professor of public policy, a historical perspective reveals the truly Read More...

In the lead up to the release of the Obama Administration’s Fiscal Year 2017 (FY 2017) budget request, rumors were flying that this final budget would once again be a “good one” for federal research programs. But as soon as Read More...

The Administration released its nearly $4 trillion budget for FY 2017 this morning. The plan abides by the discretionary budget caps set by the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act, but provides funding increases for new programs and initiatives through mandatory spending. Read More...

Originally posted on the Duke Research Blog: Sheep in microgravity. An experiment involving a monkey in a hamster ball on treadmill. These are among more than 100 descriptions of what Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, deems wasteful federal spending Read More...

Here’s a tidbit for all the history buffs out there: today marks the 50th anniversary of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, an act that created the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), considered the first “grand Read More...

Graduate student Victoria Nneji has been trained in the universal nature of the scientific method; but, during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., the first-year Masters of Engineering Management candidate learned another universal truth: all politics is local. Nneji gained Read More...

As the waning seconds ticked off the clock in last night’s NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship game, we — like any tech-savvy Duke fans — took to Twitter to watch the praise (and a little criticism) pour in from around Read More...

President Brodhead traveled to DC on March 24th to discuss issues related to sequestration, research funding, the future of the National Science Foundation (NSF), reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and student aid. While on Capitol Hill, Brodhead met with Read More...

It felt a little unusual to ask an archivist to describe “what’s next” in the world of record-keeping since, by nature, archiving is a field more concerned about what’s happened than what’s coming. But then again, Naomi Nelson, the director of the Read More...

The Administration released its nearly $4 trillion budget for FY 2016 on February 2, 2015. The plan would end sequestration and raise discretionary budget caps put in place in 2011, resulting in $1.091 trillion in proposed discretionary spending and a Read More...

700 synapses a second. That is the rate at which the brain develops new neural pathways in the first few years of life. In fact, science has shown that this early time period is so critical for proper development, that Read More...

The 2014 midterm elections constituted a Republican wave — a wave that was hard to stop and allowed Republicans to show they “learned their lesson” from the loss in the 2012 Presidential campaign. But what impact will these elections have on the Read More...

This week, the nation will observe Veterans Day, a day on which we thank, honor, and remember all those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. In celebration of this holiday, we thought it fitting to dedicate a post to Read More...

In a recent profile of North Carolina politics, The New York Times labeled North Carolina as “neither red nor blue, but a shade of deep Dixie purple.” The piece went on to paint a picture of a state divided and Read More...

On Monday, October 27, Pedro Lasch, a Duke artist and faculty member, will present a special project at The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. ***[Click here for registration information]*** A great profile in Duke Today of Lasch’s work highlights his incorporation of dozens Read More...

If you are at a loss trying to think of the last time a Congressional candidate mentioned their economic policies, Dr. Valerie Rawlston Wilson has reassuring words for you, “There’s nothing wrong with your hearing. There has not really been any discussion Read More...

As Peter Feaver listened to Michael Schoenfeld (our panel moderator for the latest installment of Duke’s Election Discussion Series) read aloud from a New York Times’ article outlining the Republican’s “decidedly grim” campaign message of a “government that is so Read More...

When Jenni Owen took a survey of recent headlines in education, she found some articles trumpeting support for Common Core and others claiming that support for the program was dwindling. She found headlines on education funding, on higher education issues, and still Read More...

In October of 2013, Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — was one of the main drivers behind the two-and-a-half week government shut-down. One year later, in the midst of campaign season, the fight over Read More...

It’s Entrepreneurship Week at Duke, and calendars on campus are filled with events like “How to be a Rockstar Startup Employee,” “Building Entrepreneurial Women,” and “Innovation Co-Lab Studio Night.” And while the idea of entrepreneurship at Duke as the purview Read More...

Staff from North Carolina Congressional offices, representatives from Governor Pat McCrory’s Washington office, and individuals representing North Carolina-focused businesses gathered in a Capitol Hill meeting room on Friday morning to learn more about the North Carolina in the Global Economy Read More...

Sunday marked the 70th anniversary of the enactment of the GI Bill, a landmark piece of legislation that allowed countless veterans the opportunity to pursue a college education. Our very own Chris Simmons, associate vice president of federal relations at Read More...

When the average person thinks of “big data,” the first things that come to mind may be government agencies gathering intelligence, political campaigns tracking voters, or even big retailers trying to learn shopping habits. But a new initiative at Duke Read More...

During last week’s consideration of the FY 15 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, an amendment was offered targeting the Social, Behavioral and Economic (SBE) Sciences directorate at the National Science Foundation. The amendment was yet another attempt to question the Read More...

When Michael Gehm, associate professor for electrical and computer engineering, starts listing his ongoing research projects, one can be forgiven for thinking they just tuned in to an episode of Star Trek: gigapixel cameras, spectrometers, millimeter waves scanning projects — it Read More...

The below story initially appeared in Duke Today on March 30, 2014. http://today.duke.edu/2014/03/dcembassy#slideshow Sometimes referred to as the university’s “embassy” in the nation’s capitol, the Duke in Washington (DIW) office has lived up to the billing as it approaches its Read More...

Cathy Davidson, co-founder of HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance Collaboratory), highlights a few Duke initiatives that are bridging the gap between the humanities and STEM education and thinking. Read More...

President Obama will deliver his sixth State of the Union address tonight, kicking-off yet another round of policy debates sure to dominate the political conversation for the coming year. In preparation for the President’s address, the Office of Federal Relations Read More...

Students and faculty in Fuqua’s Health Sector Management Program (HSM) traveled to DC last week as part of the program’s annual Week in DC (WIDC). The WIDC course, HLTHMGMT716: Health Systems and Policy, brings daytime MBA, executive MBA, and MPP students to Read More...

The first day of 2014 was a good news day for the Office of Federal Relations. We woke up to a nice profile highlighting OFR and our efforts to advocate for policies that are good for Duke faculty, students, and Read More...

The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions recently hosted their first Washington Forum on emerging issues in deep-sea policy. The event brought a panel of experts to the Duke in Washington office to discuss everything from the history behind the Read More...

Three members of the North Carolina delegation to Congress – Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC), George Holding (R-NC), and David Price (D-NC) – visited campus on November 6 to tour research labs and view demonstrations of airport security research projects happening Read More...

Spotted among the usual backpacks and ballcaps on campus last week were the padfolios and pantsuits of the state and district staff of the North Carolina delegation to Congress. These staffers oversee the home offices of the Senators and Representatives Read More...

Today’s Talker: Bruce Jentleson, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science As a two-time State Department official, Bruce Jentleson has been a fixture around the nation’s capitol for over a decade. But on one recent Friday afternoon, Washington, DC, was just Read More...

Recently spotted in and around the Duke in Washington office were members of the National Ecosystems Services Partnership (NESP), an initiative of Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. On their schedule were meetings for its Federal Resource Management and Read More...

The federal government is closed for business this week. However, when the shutdown was still just a possibility, Duke administrators shared the needs of Duke students with Congressional staff in preparation for upcoming legislative business. Donna Lisker, associate vice provost Read More...

President Brodhead, co-chair of the Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences, appeared on Colbert Nation to talk the importance of the humanities, as outlined in the Commission’s new report, The Heart of the Matter. Read the Duke Today coverage here. Read More...

Mark your calendars! The Duke University Congressional Briefing Series returns to Capitol Hill next Tuesday, July 23 for a lunch-time panel entitled “Improving and Streamlining Airport Screening Through Science.” Duke University is a national leader among universities in Department of Read More...

In early June, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) set a goal: to have the full Senate debate and vote upon a comprehensive immigration measure before the end of the month. And indeed, they did just that. After two weeks Read More...

Look who we spotted in Washington! Tim Profeta, Director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, stopped by the Duke in Washington office on Tuesday and gave us this update on his activities in and around the Capitol City. Read More...

Languages. History. Philosophy. Psychology. The humanities and social sciences, in addition to the natural sciences, feed a “mental empowerment,” leading to an innovative culture and productive citizenry, says “The Heart of the Matter,” a report prepared by the American Academy Read More...

A few weeks ago, Duke University participated in the iMarch for Innovation, a call from across the tech, government, and higher education sectors for the Senate to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The virtual march brought out supporters from North Carolina Read More...

In “Playing Politics with Student Debt,” Senators Lamar Alexander, Richard Burr and Tom Coburn outline a plan to solve the pending student loan interest rate increase on July 1. Providing students and families with a “sure thing” interest rate for the Read More...

It’s the summer after high school graduation – a time for beaches, summer jobs, and bittersweet farewells to life-long friends. Or, at least that’s how it looks in the movies. In real life, this summer is for choosing classes, buying Read More...

Do you want to see Duke University continue to attract the best and brightest students and faculty? Do you want to continue encouraging innovation and growth in the American economy? We sure do! That’s why Duke University Office of Federal Relations has Read More...

In April, Dr. Chameides, Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment, appeared before the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology offering expertise on how policy actions regarding climate change are functions of risk management. Dr. Chameides, who served Read More...